Chapter 48 — Ria vs. Leon

Readying his mace and shield, Leon mentally prepared himself for the incoming assault and watched carefully to see what approach Ria would take. When she let the flaming wings dissipate in favor of drawing a wood dagger and wand, he wasn't sure if he should be relieved about not being barbecued or worried about being smote by lightning.

A clear "Begin" was voiced out, and Ria dashed forward lightly on her feet, closing the short distance between them instantly.

Leon moved his shield to intercept the charge and hopefully gauge the strength of Ria's attacks, but it was a feint, and she blurred past on the right side, spinning around behind him.

Crap! A back attack!

Leon remembered his training, stepping forward to lessen the blow and used the momentum from the hit to transition into a turn-step, bringing his shield around to face her next attack.

Holy oww! She really wasn't holding back! That blow was intended to take him out right at the start! Ah crappity crap! She was already darting to his mace-side to get around the shield.

More out of instinct than intent, Leon swung the club down on Ria to block her move, but she strangely flowed around the descending club, and a dagger strike was instantly incoming.

Shield bash!!!

He lashed out with the shield, catching Ria's arm with the shield’s top edge just as her dagger smashed against his throat armor hard enough to force a gagging cough.

Before she could regain her balance, he pressed forward while still coughing and shield-smashed her again as hard as he could, hoping to create some distance. Ria was way lighter than he expected and was sent flying a fair distance.

Her dagger had fallen to the ground during the exchange—probably when he struck her arm with the top of the shield. He quickly moved to stand over the dagger and block her from re-arming herself… but he immediately doubted the sanity of that move. Yes, let's force the excited fire and lightning witch to use magic, bravo Leon.

"Excellent, Leon," Ria said cheerfully and rolled to her feet, but seemed to wince a little as she put weight on her arm. "Guess, I'll have to use a bit of magic, after all."

Ah… crap. As expected. Leon took a defensive stance, but she didn't attack, just stood there opening and closing her hand and testing her fingers.

"Unwise. You shouldn't have given me the time to heal," Ria chided him. "Here I come."

To his surprise, she drew back a fist and charged again.

Why would she punch a wooden shield…? Oh, crap!!! Focusing on the timing to receive the blow softly, Leon started stepping back just before the impact, but the overwhelming force of the blow caused him to skid backward a fair distance before coming to a stop.

Holy hell! Was that body-strengthening?! Was his shield going to last the match?!

"Oh, lookie what I found," Ria said with a dark chuckle and casually reached down to picked up her wood dagger from the space he just vacated. "Round 2."

Ack.

There was no time for regrets, she was already dashing around to flank him. Leon used his footwork to keep her in front of him and used the threat of a club strike to keep her at a distance.

After her feints failed to make him overcommit, Ria made a series of strange movements and stepped forward into the range of his club. Leon knew it was a trap, but if he didn't attack, he couldn't win.

Again, Ria flowed around his club.

Expecting a trap, Leon immediately stepped back and raised his shield, hoping to avoid the coming counterattack, but-

The heck?!

His foot caught on something, and his arms swung about comically as he tried not to fall. Before he could restore his balance, Ria laughed and shoved him over.

While mid-air, a crushing weight impacted his undefended stomach. Pain exploded from the impact, and everything went white then black as he slammed into the ground.

"Leon? You okay?" a girl’s voice called to him.

"…ugh."

"Can you still fight? There's still time if you want to get more practice in."

Hells no!! Not after he actually survived!

Leon blinked his eyes open and gingerly rubbed his helmeted head. His mouth tasted of bile... and maybe a bit of blood. "…think I'm done."

"Oh… okay." Ria sounded really disappointed. "I healed up your injuries for the most part. There are healing potions in my bag if you're still sore. At least watch my match with Forsin, okay?"

Leon nodded. "Sorry that I didn't last longer."

"You did really well, Leon. I kinda overdid it with that last one. I was just so excited to land a clean hit that I used a lot of earth magic and… I promise that I'll hold back next time. So please spar with me again when you are feeling better," Ria pleaded, and Leon could almost imagine the puppy-dog eyes she was making behind her mask.

"If you think it will help," Leon agreed, but inside he was cursing his fate. 'Just say no, you moron!!' was what his reason was telling him, but he really did need Ria's help if he was going to get stronger.

Ria helped Leon up. He was a little unsteady on his feet as he returned to where Ria's bag was sitting. Ranger and the two swordsmen welcomed him back, and he nodded an acknowledgment. His stomach still hurt something fierce, so he took Ria up on her offer and downed a healing potion.

"Guess it's my turn," Forsin said. "Good fight there, kid. Mages are always tricky opponents."

"Ah, thanks."

"Sure, wish me luck."

"Good luck."

As he watched Forsin walk off to join Ria in the circle of flames, Leon could overhear the animated discussion among the spectators.

(That was hilarious the way knight-boy spewed out his mask when she slammed him into the ground!)

(Hell, yeah! Must've been a brutal hit! That guy’s armor looked decent enough to handle a wood dagger.)

(Mages are soooo unfair!)

(Preach it bro!)

(Hahaha. You guys need to work harder at unlocking your inner energy.)

(Oh look! Another challenger! It’s Forsin!)

(He’s C-rank! This should be fun!)

Ria downed an energy replenishment potion, and Leon wondered just how badly hurt he was a few minutes ago. His facemask did smell faintly of blood mixed in with the bile and bits of lunch. When he took it off to take a look, his hand came away wet, but the liquid was more pink than red.

The towel from earlier was still there. Might as well. It was Ria’s fault anyway. While he was wiping the mess off his face and armor, Ria and Forsin finished negotiating the ground rules for their fight.

The duel started out with a quick exchange of attacks and dodges, which elicited cheers from the spectators. Ria was clearly going all-out from the start, using those strange movements to flow around Forsin's one and two-handed stabs and slashes, counterattacking with her own stabs and slashes.

The rapid exchanges continued until Ria missed a dodge and was sent flying by the force of the impact, her surprised squeak cut off as she hit the ground awkwardly and flipped head over heels. Forsin waited, chuckling, and Ria scrambled back into the flaming circle, rubbing where the wood sword stabbed her armor.

When the fight resumed, initially the exchanges appeared to continue as before, but while stepping forward to strike, Forsin's foot stopped abruptly mid-air, causing him to miss his swing. As the swing missed, his foot just as suddenly fell back to the ground leaving him unbalanced enough for Ria to stab him.

The force of Ria's hit surprisingly knocked Forsin backward onto his butt. Pressing her advantage, Ria leapt forward to land a finishing blow only to have her dagger knocked away by a quick kick and had to roll out of the way of a follow-up sword slash.

Ria scurried out of her roll toward her dagger only to receive a thrown practice knife in the back, sending her sprawling. The groans and oofs from the crowd mirrored Leon's own opinion. That one had to hurt.

Ranger grumbled and barked some encouragement.

Likely pretending to be unfazed, Ria took her time nonchalantly rolling her shoulder and stretching out her back before retaking her stance. At Forsin's teasing laughter, she shrugged.

What happened next was bizarre. When the exchanges resumed, Forsin appeared to be having trouble with his footing at key moments, and his sword swings would sometimes stop abruptly as if his arm hit an invisible object.

At first, Ria was able to take advantage of Forsin being unable to block her attacks to land a few hits, but eventually Forsin adapted his footwork to only slide his feet along the ground and switched a knife into his off-hand to parry her attacks whenever his sword arm was obstructed.

With the changes in Forsin's approach, Ria's attacks were no longer able to land, and the swordsman's superior skills soon overwhelmed Ria, forcing her to back off. But every time she took some distance, Forsin would let launch the off-hand knife at her with a lightning-quick underhand flick.

For a while Ria managed to dodge some of the knife attacks, until after several similar exchanges her movements suddenly slowed, and Forsin was able to start taking the offense.

At that point, the gap in skill was more than Ria could defend against without her enhanced speed, and the rest of the fight turned into a punishing demonstration of the sword's longer reach. Forsin was courteous about it, but eventually Ria took enough damage that she couldn't stand up and had to concede the match.

"Go on, boy. I'll watch your bag," Stanik offered and gave Leon a little push.

“Woof!” Ranger agreed.

Leon had been getting progressively more worried about Ria's stubbornness to continue fighting and didn't need much prodding. He rushed over to her, healing potion already in hand.

"Ah… Leon. Guess Tina was right... D-rank is my current limit," Ria mumbled between breaths, and downed the offered potion.

Forsin laughed. "D-rank strength for a girl your age is very impressive. There's no need to rush. I also think Tina's fighting style is a good fit for you. If you learn it well and keep improving your magic and body-strengthening, there won't be many that can match you in combat."

"Thanks, Forsin. Um, are there any places of power around here?" Ria asked as she gingerly stood up, using Leon for support.

"I'm not a mage, so not really something I've paid much attention to. Monster appearances do tend to be more frequent around places of power, so checking monster activity charts in the guild library might help," Forsin recommended.

"Oh! A library. I'll definitely check that out," Ria replied in a cheerful voice.

“Woof!” Ranger also joined them in the circle. Ria energetically scratched behind his ears, and the dog’s tail wagged happily.

"You guys are taking too long. It's my turn to fight the winner," Stanik complained loudly as he approached and handed over Ria's satchel. "Ooh, this enchantment feels really nice. How much time does it have left?"

Shrugging on her satchel and putting away her helmet, Ria answered with a grin, "Probably has got another fifteen minutes or so."

"Perfect," Stanik replied. "Go join the spectators. We'll give you two a show worth seeing."

"Hahaha, coming by the guild today was the right call. Let's show the youngsters what it means to be C-rank," Forsin agreed with a grin showing his teeth.

Ria was clearly still sore even after the healing potion, so Leon continued to lend his arm for support as they vacated the circle of flames.

Stanik and Forsin didn't disappoint. They were a blur of clacking wood and shifting stances, dancing through complicated footwork, exchanging blows, and constantly jockeying for advantageous positioning.

Many of the spectators clearly wanted to talk with Ria when she approached, but they also didn't want to miss Stanik and Forsin's match. Other than one guy probably in his early twenties, the rest contented themselves with brief greetings and congratulations or condolences.

"So, you're really an enchanter?" The one guy asked Ria curiously. "Are you already a member of the Enchanters Guild?"

Ria nodded and told him that she was only a provisional member though.

The guy still seemed impressed and started asking her about what the fire circle did and whether she could make one for the others to practice with. The one silver fee Ria wanted was apparently rather steep for an hour of practice, but the idea of making a more permanent enchantment drew interest, and Ria agreed to research the feasibility of the idea. She also mentioned to the spectators about the scrolls that were now available for sale at the alchemist's shop.

Soon after Ria's flaming circle dissipated, the two swordsmen called an end to their match. Stanik, even though he was older—or maybe because he was older, was clearly the better swordsman of the two, and with the sparring done, the older man promptly announced that Forsin was treating everyone to a round of beer, which drew a cheer from the gathered adventurers.

Ria and Leon were ushered along to join in and were again complimented on their fights. Leon got more offers for future sparring than Ria did, but Ria was clearly the one that everyone was the most curious about. She seemed pleased to be able to get to know her fellow guild members, and took turns chatting and answering questions with each group that introduced themselves.

Leon was incredibly glad that the stunt with the flashy ritual magic hadn’t made Ria an immediate bounty target. Getting two C-rank adventurers to participate had been really fortunate, and once word got around that Ria was a healer, opinions of her rose considerably. In a profession as dangerous as adventuring, it made sense that healers were highly valued.

After a while, Tina and Burtan chased off the others and joined Leon and Ria at the table. The instructors evaluated their performances and quizzed them on what they could have done differently and what they needed to work on to improve.

Ria ordered dinner for her tablemates as thanks for their help, and to Leon’s surprise, she said she particularly wanted him to know how thankful she was for the effort that he was putting out to humor her whims, which drew chuckles from Tina and Burtan and a woof from Ranger.

The food wasn’t as good as Sal and Marlene’s, but it was better than Leon expected. Burtan explained that the monster parts and magical plants used in the food and drink at the guild were helpful for improving affinities and growing one’s energy reserves. The food was also twice as expensive as normal foods.

Leon woke Ria a few times when she nodded off while eating, but eventually, Tina told him to let her sleep and made him promise to properly take her home. Tina also told Ranger to chomp him good if he tried anything inappropriate, a mission Ranger readily agreed to—if his enthusiastic bark was any indication.

Mr. Orlan was waiting for them when Leon arrived at the butchershop carrying a sleeping Ria. Leon was thankful. Ria herself might have been light, but her armor certainly wasn’t.

Ria mumbled something unintelligible when he gently handed her over and extracted himself from the arms she had wrapped around his neck.

“Thanks for bringing Ria back safe, Leon. How did things go?” Mr. Orlan asked as Ria latched onto the burly old man instead.

Leon shrugged. “I know she was happy that we accomplished a lot today, and she made some new friends.”

“Sounds like she ran you pretty ragged all day long. Anything you want me to tell her in the morning?”

“Yeah. I’ll be busy tomorrow, but I think I can free up the following day if she wants to gather materials in the forest,” Leon relayed.

“Oh? Sounds like fun. I’ll let her know,” Mr. Orlan agreed with a laugh. “Come on, Ranger. Let’s get Ria tucked in.”

“Woof!”